My partner's ex and father of three children, all live with me and my partner. He's has convictions for sexual offences against children and quite a few convictions for drug offences, has no contact with the two older children and rare supervised contact with the youngest, and has never paid a penny towards his children. But despite all this he still has parental rights and you need his permission to take them outside the UK.

We had his permission in writing and agreed with the court at a child welfare hearing. We were booked and ready to go. A few days before he claimed that he had changed his mind and was concerned about their welfare. His solicitor must have applied to the court, the next day we had the police at the door and they took possession of the children's passports.

We had booked a package holiday to Italy for two weeks at a cost of £7800, and of course we didn't get a refund.